My Brother, the Villain
For years now, I have casually talked about writing a book about my brother, Keegan. Now, whenever my brother does something outrageous, my Dad even says something about "putting it in my book."
I don't really think I could actually do it (even though I've written a semi-true short story about him) because I wouldn't want to inadvertantly glamorize a type of lifestyle James Frey pretended to have but never did.
The rebellion of bad boys may seem cool and interesting, but its mostly just selfish and wreckless and cowardly.
The new information I heard this weekend from my parents is this: after a year and a half or so of marriage and "reforming" his old ways, Keegan's wife Jenny wants a divorce because of his continued infidelity. This comes while she is six-months pregnant with their second child (both of them also have a child from a previous relationship.)
Since then, he he gone back to the bottle, and back to his old friends, while my sister-in-law gets to take care of three children on her own.
Sure, I could write a fascinating character study about him, about how him and I turned out so different (like the two brothers in "A River Runs Through It")....about some of his Bad Boy exploits like getting kicked out of school for going crazy on the principal and ripping a door off his hinges, taking literal craps in public places, and all the sex, drugs, and rock n' roll, but its a sad, terrible life.
--On a lighter note, I recently ran into my first celebrity (almost quite literally) since I've been out here... My friend Claire and I were driving through an alley near the Third Street Promenade last week and when we pulled out to the street, there was British actor John Cleese of Monty Python fame.
Granted it wasn't THAT close, he was 6 to 8 feet away, but it was close enough that we got *a* look. He kept on walking in a very brisk, very British way, and made an exaggerated motion to look at his watch. I said "Sorry, Mr. Cleese" softly, but I don't think he heard me.
For years now, I have casually talked about writing a book about my brother, Keegan. Now, whenever my brother does something outrageous, my Dad even says something about "putting it in my book."
I don't really think I could actually do it (even though I've written a semi-true short story about him) because I wouldn't want to inadvertantly glamorize a type of lifestyle James Frey pretended to have but never did.
The rebellion of bad boys may seem cool and interesting, but its mostly just selfish and wreckless and cowardly.The new information I heard this weekend from my parents is this: after a year and a half or so of marriage and "reforming" his old ways, Keegan's wife Jenny wants a divorce because of his continued infidelity. This comes while she is six-months pregnant with their second child (both of them also have a child from a previous relationship.)
Since then, he he gone back to the bottle, and back to his old friends, while my sister-in-law gets to take care of three children on her own.
Sure, I could write a fascinating character study about him, about how him and I turned out so different (like the two brothers in "A River Runs Through It")....about some of his Bad Boy exploits like getting kicked out of school for going crazy on the principal and ripping a door off his hinges, taking literal craps in public places, and all the sex, drugs, and rock n' roll, but its a sad, terrible life.
--On a lighter note, I recently ran into my first celebrity (almost quite literally) since I've been out here... My friend Claire and I were driving through an alley near the Third Street Promenade last week and when we pulled out to the street, there was British actor John Cleese of Monty Python fame.
Granted it wasn't THAT close, he was 6 to 8 feet away, but it was close enough that we got *a* look. He kept on walking in a very brisk, very British way, and made an exaggerated motion to look at his watch. I said "Sorry, Mr. Cleese" softly, but I don't think he heard me.
